Northeast Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration

We have only installed one gas valve on 12/8/which was never paid forSee attachment for copies of declined credit card receiptsAccording to the weather records in Albany the temperature was around degrees at the time they were at her house, not below as she stated We were not made aware of the customer's heat not working as she did not contact us for days without any complaints of no heatWhen the manager spoke to her the day she actually answered when he called tying to seek another form of payment since the card was declinedShe stated her heat was working thenSo far we have received no payment for anything we have done, nor any payment for the gas valve installedAs stated in the earlier statement from us, our outstanding reputation speaks for itself and don't understand why she keeps saying she paid us for work done and for a part when she has in fact paid us nothing as of this dateIf indeed she purchased other gas valves besides the one on 12/8/we installed that was never paid for where are those receipts from the other companies and if indeed she purchased the other gas valves in such a short amount of time, why is she only making complaints about usWhy are they not mentioned or complaints against them if they indeed too also installed a gas valve for herWe are truly sorry this could not have been resolved in a more reasonable manner, but without the cooperation on the customer end it made this an impossible taskI spoke with one of the other local companies she told the tech that had installed the original gas valve and was informed by them that she indeed call them afterhours demanding they warranty a gas valve she said they installedShe was not a customer and did not install any gas valve for her as she claimedAt this point we are obviously getting no where with any of thisI could understand her complaint if she actually paid us for something, but that is like me going to a store not paying for something and expecting them to make good on it if it was bad

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Regards, *** ***

We have only installed one gas valve on 12/8/17. which was never paid for. See attachment for copies of declined credit card receipts. According to the weather records in Albany the temperature was around 34 degrees at the time they were at her house, not below 0 as she stated.  We were not made aware of the customer's heat not working as she did not contact us for 20 days without any complaints of no heat. When the manager spoke to her the day she actually answered when he called tying to seek another form of payment since the card was declined. She stated her heat was working then. So far we have received no payment for anything we have done, nor any payment for the gas valve installed. As stated in the earlier statement from us, our outstanding reputation speaks for itself and don't understand why she keeps saying she paid us for work done and for a part when she has in fact paid us nothing as of this date. If indeed she purchased 2 other gas valves besides the one on 12/8/17 we installed that was never paid for where are those receipts from the other companies and if indeed she purchased the other gas valves in such a short amount of time, why is she only making complaints about us. Why are they not mentioned or complaints against them if they indeed too also installed a gas valve for her. We are truly sorry this could not have been resolved in a more reasonable manner, but without the cooperation on the customer end it made this an impossible task. I spoke with one of the other local companies she told the tech that had installed the original gas valve and was informed by them that she indeed call them afterhours demanding they warranty a gas valve she said they installed. She was not a customer and did not install any gas valve for her as she claimed. At this point we are obviously getting no where with any of this. I could understand her complaint if she actually paid us for something, but that is like me going to a store not paying for something and expecting them to make good on it if it was bad.

Good morning,  I am just responding to a complaint filed against us by [redacted] ref # [redacted]  We received a call from Ms. [redacted] on 12/8/2017 approx 3:30 – 3:45 pm, complaint of no heat. She is not a current customer , she was a first time customer.  She explained that she had...

called about a week ago and spoke with Grace and Grace explained we were busy that day and had no technicians available to be able to get out to help her that day. She said she had been calling around and could not get anyone out to service her furnace.( I personally do not recall her calling me the week before, but I also answer so many calls a day and callers do not always provide me with their name until I actually schedule a service call)  We had a technician who had actually just finished so we said we could send him right over to get her heat going for her.  The technician diagnosed a bad gas valve.  He phoned into our manager and he went and picked one up from the vendor as they were getting ready to close for the day. He personally brought the part to the technician, waited until it was installed to ensure that the furnace fired up.  After watching the furnace fire up and cycle as it should he left, the technician buttoned up the furnace and completed the invoice. The customer signed the invoice for the amount of $349.27 and wrote her credit card number for payment on the invoice as it was now after hours and the office was closed to be able to run the credit card at that moment.  I have uploaded a copy of the original invoice she signed and wrote her credit card # on. I have blocked off most of the numbers so her card number was not put out there publically.  The customer then called our after hours exchange at 5:45pm. The on call technician for the weekend was  called out and went to her home that evening right away and upon arrival he had 24v to the gas valve , making him believe perhaps we had a bad gas valve out of the box that was just installed, which is rare but can happen. The technician spoke with the manager and he investigated a little further. He found a wire plug in the furnace that appeared to be slightly unplugged. He reconnected the wire and the furnace fired up. We cannot explain how the wire plug became loose. He was advised by the manager to not charge her as perhaps it was accidently bumped when the technician that was just there installing the gas valve and did not realize it. So the customer was NOT charged for that visit. At the time the technician was there after hours she made him speak to a gentleman on the phone whom she referred to as her heating maintenance guy. The tech asked him why he wasn’t there if he was working on it and he said he was busy.  The office ran the customer’s credit card she provided on the invoice she initially signed for , the card was declined. A phone call was made to Ms. [redacted] in an attempt to get another form of payment or another card number. After trying to get a hold of Ms. [redacted], she finally answered and began to dispute the bill she signed for. The manager did not yell at her in any way shape way or form. She said that she had the gas valve installed 6 months earlier by her heating guy friend and it should be under warranty. We were not told this information until this phone call , approx. a week after the original visit. She demanded the old gas valve be returned to her. Unfortunately as normal protocol, when the technician returned to work on Monday am,  he cleaned out his van and the old bad valve was discarded In the trash.  As a courtesy to the customer the manager actually told her he would discount the bill and it was reduced to $259.20. She said she would call back with payment and never did. A few attempts were made to her, never more than one time per day, asking her to please call in for payment.  We never phoned her work as we only have one phone number for her on file which appears to be her cell phone number (ending in 3668). We decided to not call the local authorities to discuss options for her non-payment, as it was the holidays and did not want to do that to anyone right before Christmas.  Ms. [redacted] then called after hours when the office was closed  on 12/28/2017 at  6:18pm. We do have Ms. [redacted] listed on the no service list for our technicians for non-payment , which the on-call technician did not review prior to going to her home. Upon arrival the technician also found 24v going to the gas valve. She mentioned to him that it was recently replaced. He made a phone call to our manager and he was advised to leave since she has appeared to have an intermittent problem with the furnace and since she has not made any attempt to pay the first bill from 3 weeks ago , we cannot go any further at this time. She told the technician her father had just passed away which is why she never called. She made no attempt to pay the original bill that evening either. The house was not cold when the technician left that evening she had an alternative heat system going which appeared to be a woodstove or fireplace going . She again was NOT charged for this overtime visit either. The next afternoon on 12/29/2017, roughly between 2-3 pm Ms. [redacted] called our office. She was asked how we can help her and she began to raise her voice to us. She was told that her credit card was declined for service performed 3 weeks ago , the bill was already reduced as a courtesy. We did not charge her for either overtime call she called in. She made no reply.  About an hour later we received a phone call from a [redacted] at News channel ** investigating a complaint that we have left her without heat.  He said she told him her son had a pneumonia and we refused to help her. The story was conflicting on what she told him vs us  and as it does in this complaint filed by her as well. ( we were told by her the one time she did answer our phone call , the day we discounted the bill, that her husband was in Iraq. Then she told the tech on 12/28/17 her father passed away, the news reporter was told her son had pneumonia, and now in this complaint it is her baby daughter has bronchitis)  When our technician was there the evening before a boy was sitting in his t shirt playing video games and a girl who appeared to be in the 5-7 year old range was also sitting there playing with toys.  She also told our technician the night before that the gas valve was installed by another local company, the technician explained we cannot warranty a part we did not install and if it was a problem with them, why did she not contact them to make good on it? She said the wait for them to come was too long. No receipt was ever produced to us to verify the story that it was installed 6 months ago by another company. We also are confused as to why she would need a gas valve installed during the summer. If that was indeed the case, 6 months ago would put it around the June to July area, a time in which you are not using your furnace. But without the other companies receipt we cannot verify any of that , including if indeed it was installed.We have at no time gone to her home in a ski mask as she claims , those allegations are just absurd. We have never done such a thing nor would we ever even imagine doing such a thing. The only times we have been to her home, she has been home and  it is on the dates stated. No one has made threating calls to her work as she is accusing . We do not have her work number on file as I stated , we only have her cell phone number, which she has only answered one time also as stated.The stories from Ms. [redacted] seem to be conflicting each time from who and what illness, the father passing , to whom actually installed the initial gas valve.  We would have had no problem trying to help her figure out what seems to be an intermittent problem with her furnace, but since no attempt to make good on the original bill after notifying her that her credit card was declined, we just simply cannot at this time. We have gone above and beyond to help her so far and we are under the assumption that no contact from her for 20 days, the time from the initial call on 12/8/17 and the call she made on 12/28/2017 that the furnace was up and working as it should. We have tried running the card number she provided 5 different times and each time it has been declined.  We are a small family orientated business that has been in business for over 30 years and as no business can ever satisfy every customer, we take pride in our outstanding reputation all these years. It is our hope this one customer does not tarnish the name we have spent all these years building and upholding. It truly is upsetting that this encounter with Ms. [redacted] has led this far as to false allegations being thrown at us. We have already absorbed the deduction off the call, the 2 additional trips of labor to her home and as a small business we cannot afford to absorb more, especially with having received nothing in the form of payment as of thus far.  Thank you,  Grace N[redacted]   GRACE NICHOLS NORTHEAST HEATNG COOLING REFRIGERATION 27 RAILROAD AVENUE ALBANY, NY 12205 518-482-8288 FAX 518-4721